Disclaimer: Not mine. They belong to BVE et al. Any similarities in
dialogue between this and the episode Quantum Secrets is purely accidental.

Notes: This is part of the Identiverse, so where that and PRTF cannon
part ways, I go with Identity. Given the length, this probably ought to be
considered a full chapter of Identity, slotting in between
Control Issues and Eric
(more or less, anyway), but I'm posting it separately because it doesn't fit in
with the style of the rest of Identity.

Yup, this is an episode interpretation of Quantum Secrets with a few things modified
and a couple of new scenes worked in.

Many, many, many thanks to Ekat for beta'ing above and beyond the call
of duty -- especially considering when I started this one off, she didn't
actually LIKE Eric! For Eric haters and Eric fans alike -- there's something in
here for both...

Please offer feedback -- it tells me how I'm doing.

~*~

What Matters

Eric puttered around the tiny kitchen area. But for a trip to the
dentist that afternoon, he wasn't normally home for lunch -- in fact, he tended
to avoid being at 'home' as much as possible. It just reminded him of how alone
and isolated he was.

Ruthlessly he forced that thought down. There was one good thing about
being home, it meant that his pair of lovebirds got some fresh air and their
daily feed at a reasonable time of day for once. Picking up the dish of birdseed
he'd poured, he headed out into the cluttered back yard and across to the
birdcage.

The yard was still filled with all the trash the previous occupant of
the house had left behind, which included several, industrial wire spools. It
did make crossing the yard a little hazardous and every now and then -- when
he'd cracked his shins against one of the spools or when he'd tripped over some
of the loose wire -- he'd promise himself he'd clear the yard up on his next
day off. But the next day off never seemed to come.

"All right guys," he murmured as he reached the cage.
"Time for lunch." Carefully, he unlatched the cage door and slid the
dish of birdseed into the cage.

As he latched the door shut once more, there was a small thump from
beside him. Eric started and looked.

"Hi." Eric found himself staring at a girl of about seven or
eight who had apparently appeared out of thin air. The thump, he realised, had
been her bouncing onto a nearby spool.

"Where'd you spring from?" Eric asked.

"Next door," she replied, as though this was something he
should have known. "I'm Alice. What's your name?"

"Eric," he found himself replying.

Alice beamed brightly. "May I talk to your birds?"

Eric blinked, a little stunned. "Sure."

"Thank you!" Alice turned her attention to the birds.
"Hi little birdies!" She glanced back at Eric. "Are they
friends?"

It took a few moments before Eric mentally picked himself up from the
floor at that question. It wasn't as if he'd ever given the subject any
thought, but... "Yeah -- I guess so."

"That's good," she replied. "Everyone should have
friends."

As she turned her attention back to the birds, Eric found himself
smiling. There had been a time, a long time ago, when that was something he'd
thought. The smile faltered as he felt a pang of regret for the loss of
innocence and naivety he'd suffered. Then his train of thought was seriously
derailed by someone bringing their hands down firmly on his shoulders.

"Hey!" Eric objected, looking round. Behind him were a
shortish, balding, thickset man and two taller (and even more thickset) goons
in dark glasses. "Who are you?"

"What?!" But even as Eric started to protest, the two goons
in shades started to move until they were in a position to loom over Alice. And
then Eric caught the flash of sunlight on metal. His protest died unspoken as
one of the goons aimed a cyclosabre at her head.

"Leave her out of this," Eric replied softly to avoid
alarming Alice any more, but pouring as much venom into the words as he could.
"I'll come with you."

"Knew you'd see it my way."

The cyclosabre vanished again, and Eric found himself being led out of
his back yard by the two goons and the balding man, in the direction of a
large, black saloon car.

"And just so's you don't get any ideas," the balding man
added, grabbing Eric's left arm. "I'll take that." So saying, he
snatched the quantum morpher from its place on Eric's wrist.

Eric winced but said nothing. If he'd been in any doubt about Ransik's
involvement, the snatch of his morpher firmly pushed that doubt away. The
question was, what was going on?

"Now get in the car," the balding man finished.

One of the goons opened the nearest rear door, and the other bundled
Eric into the vehicle. Before Eric could so much as open his mouth to complain,
he felt something connect with the back of his head and everything faded to
black.

~*~

The next thing Eric knew, he was being dragged out of the saloon. The
two shade-wearing goons gripped his arms tightly and held him in place, up
against the railing of a bridge. Looking around, Eric vaguely recognised the
area as being to the East of Silverhills, into the mountains that gave the city
its name.

"What do you want with me?" Eric asked, fixing his attention
to the balding thug.

"It's not you I want," the thug replied. "Allow me to
introduce myself." He passed a hand over his face and in a flash of light
a grey-ish coloured mutant replaced the man. "I'm Conwing, and I want your
zord."

As Conwing transformed into his natural form, so did the two thugs
holding Eric in place. Their transformations into cyclobots didn't surprise
Eric quite as much as Conwing's. The two robots tightened their grip and
dragged him towards the mutant.

Eric glared in silence. If this guy thinks he can intimidate me into doing
what he wants, he's in for a long wait.

"Ooooh how brave!" Conwing sneered.

At a signal from the mutant, Eric found himself being flung harshly
against the bridge railing by the two cyclobots. Before he could recover, the
robots grabbed him by the arms and pulled him back to his feet.

"Now call the Q-Rex." Eric just glared at
Conwing and said nothing. "Know what, maybe I should go pay your little
friend a visit."

In spite of himself, Eric blanched at the threat. Conwing had hit on
the one thing that would actually have any affect. There were a lot of things
he was prepared to do -- or not do -- that would make most people balk, but
allowing someone as innocent and young as Alice get hurt because of him was not
one of them.

"Come on Eric," Conwing cajoled. "What's it to be? Do I
go see your friend?"

Eric looked up, pouring as much venom into his expression. "All
right."

Conwing chuckled and held the morpher out. Shaking himself free of the
cyclobots' grasp, Eric reached out to press one of the buttons on the front of
the morpher, hoping to bluff the mutant and find a way out of this situation
without potentially turning over control of the Q-Rex.

Damn.
Eric gave an inward sigh. He had no choice. There was no way he could fight his
way out of the situation and to continue with non compliance was as good as
killing Alice himself. "Q-Rex...arise."

It didn't take long for the savage zord to appear, much to Conwing's
delight. The mutant snatched the morpher away from Eric and turned to face the
arriving machine. "Q-Rex," he commanded, "go and attack the
city."

Eric couldn't help but smirk. In so far as the giant dinosaur's
expression could change, the Q-Rex stared down at Conwing with scorn. "He
only responds to my voice," Eric commented.

"I know," Conwing agreed. He turned back to Eric and produced
an orange coloured mouthpiece. "Which is why," he continued, fitting
the mouthpiece, "I brought this."

Eric's jaw hinged open. Conwing's voice had changed as he fitted the
mouthpiece, from the mutant's gravely natural voice to Eric's own. Conwing
chuckled at the reaction in an awful parody of Eric's own laugh, which only
served to make Eric feel even more uncomfortable.

Eric could only look on in fast mounting horror as the Q-Rex obeyed the
command. There
should have been something else I could have done...

"Aah," Conwing gloated. "Year 3000 technology. Gotta
love it." Before Eric could wonder about that statement, Conwing turned
back and drew his blaster. "Thanks for the voice lessons -- I have
everything I need now, so you've outlived your usefulness."

Conwing aimed the blaster straight at Eric's chest. Now I know
how Wes felt, Eric found himself thinking. I always figured I'd die young but I
hadn't planned on it being this young. Almost instinctively he
started to back away from the blaster-wielding mutant, and surprisingly, the two
cyclobots allowed the movement. Eric soon found out why: He backed into the
bridge railing. He glanced over his shoulder. It was a thirty-foot drop to the
river below -- he'd survived worse...if he could make it over the railing
without getting vaporised.

"So long, sucker!" But before Conwing could pull the trigger,
the sound of vector cycles filled the air. "What the...?"

Conwing looked up in the direction of the noise. Eric didn't bother --
he knew who it was likely to be. Instead, he used the cyclobots' grip on his
arms against them, bringing them crashing together. As they fell away, he
quickly turned and vaulted over the railing.

"Oh no you don't!"

Eric heard the words as he dropped towards the water, and could only
wait for the blaster fire that was bound to follow the statement. Sure enough,
a hail of blaster fire followed them. It was all hastily aimed, but Conwing
succeeded in tagging Eric's shoulder just as he hit the water.

The pain was instant and disorienting. Eric tried to scream and instead
found himself inadvertently inhaling water. He tried to kick for the surface,
but he had lost all sense of which was up or down. In spite of every second of
training he'd logged, he started to panic. The lack of oxygen was starting to
make him feel lightheaded. He tried another kick for the surface, but to no
avail.

I am not going to
die here! I refuse to die like this!

But there didn't seem to be anything he could do about it. The water
roaring in his ears seemed to be getting louder; everything else seemed to be
getting more and more distant. The reflex to breathe overcame every piece of
common sense and he inhaled more water.

No...

~*~

Consciousness drifted back to Eric in wisps. The first thing he
realised was he could feel a breeze against his damp clothing. Next followed
the realisation that he was completely out of the water. Then came the
recognition that he was lying on something damp and gritty. But the discomfort
of his situation was over-ridden by the relief of not being dead.

The next thing he noticed was that someone was gently dabbing something
against his forehead and temple. As the 'something' (and from the smell, it was
some kind of antiseptic wipe) was drawn down his cheek, it brushed against an
open wound. Though the pain was minor in comparison to the earlier pain in his
shoulder, Eric reflexively flinched away from it.

"I won't be a second -- promise."

Wait a sec! That
sounds like... Eric opened his eyes and found himself
staring up at Jen. For a long second he said nothing, largely because he wasn't
sure what to say. Finally, if a little half-heartedly, he pushed Jen's hand
away and sat up.

"I don't need your help." But even to his ears, the words
sounded false and hollow.

To judge by Jen's expression, she thought even less of them than he
did. "Obviously you did, you'd have drowned in that river if I hadn't
pulled you out," she snapped, getting to her feet.

Eric ignored her outburst and put his hand up to probe the shoulder
wound and found it was bandaged. Presumably more of Jen's handiwork. "Well
if you think I'm gonna thank you, you're wrong." He tried pushing himself
off the ground with his wounded arm, testing out how injured it was, and found
his arm collapsed under him. Guess very would cover it.

Jen offered him a hand up. He ignored it. It took a little doing, but
he managed to get to his feet.

Eric walked across the little river beach and sank down against one of
the nearby rocks.

"That's your choice," Jen retorted. "Maybe if you'd lose
that attitude, you'd get to know us a little better." She threw the wipe
in his general direction. "But I doubt that's ever going to happen."
She turned on her heel and started to walk away.

Conwing's comment about the year 3000 came back. If the Q-Rex and the quantum morpher
are from the year 3000...and these guys were after the Q-Rex... "I
know more about you than you think," he replied. Jen stopped. "I know
you and your friends aren't even from here," he added, testing his theory.

She slowly turned back to face him. "What do you mean?"

Eric scanned her expression and posture. She's nervous which means...
"So it is true. You are from the future."

Eric just nodded. It did make a strange kind of sense -- if time travel
was involved, that would certainly explain why the morpher could be so far
ahead of its time and still come from an archaeological dig site.

"Maybe we should have said something sooner," Jen began.
"If you knew..."

"Save it," Eric replied tiredly. "I have problems of my
own." He got back to his feet. "Like getting back my morpher."
Eric started to head back upstream.

"You only care about yourself, don't you," Jen snapped.

Because no-one else
has ever given a rat's ass about me. Eric slowly
turned back to face her. "You don't know anything about me."

"Enlighten me." Eric just shook his head. "Fine."
Jen stormed past him, only to stop a few yards further along the riverbank.
"Look," she continued, making a visible effort to calm down,
"please, do me one favour. Don't tell anyone we're from the future.
Especially not Mr Collins." She met his gaze. "It would ruin
everything we've been working for."

Eric sighed. "I'm not making any promises."

"That figures." So saying, she turned on her heel and headed
upstream rapidly.

Eric sighed again and watched her leave, hands on hips. There was a
brief moment when he wondered what it would have been like to have accepted
Jen's help and to have listened to what she had to say, instead of blowing her
off. Then his fingers brushed against the mass of scarring on his right side,
just below the bottom of his ribcage and winced, not from actual pain but the
reminder of what had happened the last time he'd trusted someone that much.

"I work alone," he muttered to himself. "And right now,
I need to get my morpher back."

With a renewed determination, Eric set out upstream, following the path
Jen had taken, hoping it would lead to the battle site and Conwing.

Somewhat to Eric's surprise, it didn't actually take that long to reach
the battlefield, although it was quite a tough, uphill hike. He arrived on the
scene just in time to see Jen get blasted by Conwing.

"You're no match for me!" the mutant gloated.

"Hey. Conwing!" Eric yelled.

Slowly the mutant turned to face the direction of the shout. "You
again! Boy, you must really like learning things the hard way."

"You have something of mine," Eric retorted, "and I'm going
to take it back."

"Suuuuuuuure you are," Conwing drawled in a tone of voice
Eric knew he'd used several times to the other rangers. Not for the first time,
he wondered why the other rangers hadn't long since pounded him into the dirt
for it.

Dismissing that as irrelevant for the time being, Eric turned his
attention to the matter at hand. I have his attention -- now how do I...
The thought trailed off as Eric's gaze fell on Jen's V-5 weapon. When Conwing
had blasted her, she had obviously lost her grip on the weapon. Eric eyed the
distance up and nodded. Piece of cake!

He set off at a dead run, aiming straight for the V-5.

"Oh no you don't," Conwing exclaimed. "Q-Rex -- destroy
him!"

That is all
I need. Eric didn't need to look round to know that
the Q-Rex was now pursuing him. Getting squashed by my own zord is not
how I plan on dying. He was faintly aware of the other rangers all
yelling advice at him, but he tuned it out, concentrating, instead, on reaching
the weapon far enough ahead of the massive zord for it to be any use to him.

Eric risked a glance over his shoulder. This is going to be tight.
He looked back at the V-5. Make that very tight. Another look over
his shoulder. Now or never... Without breaking stride, he dived across the
remaining ground between himself and the V-5, reaching for the weapon. As he
took off, the Q-Rex set its massive foot down on the patch of ground he'd been
standing on -- but the relief of avoiding that was superseded by the
realisation that his dive wasn't quite going to be enough.

Skills long ingrained took over. As he landed -- still a few feet short
of the V-5 -- he tucked and rolled, letting the momentum carry him those last
few feet. As he came out of the roll, his hands automatically grabbed the
weapon. It was a different shape and size to the assorted guns he'd trained
with but it didn't seem to matter. In one, fluid motion, he had the V-5 into
his hands, up into a firing position and aimed.

He fired.

The blast of pink energy struck Conwing squarely on the chest, knocking
the mutant off balance. As the grey-coloured creature frantically tried to stay
upright, the stolen morpher slid from his grasp and landed on the turf about
four feet from Eric.

Yes!
He dived forward again, discarding the V-5 as he went and scooped up the
morpher.

"No!" exclaimed Conwing.

"Told ya," Eric retorted. Then into the morpher, he added,
"Q-Rex, stop!"

Only then did Eric dare look and see how close the Q-Rex had come. Whew -- that
was too close. The zord had come to a halt a bare ten feet behind him.
Another step forward and... He gave an involuntary shiver at that prospect.
Strapping the morpher securely to his wrist once more, Eric turned back to face
Conwing.

"It's payback time," Eric promised, dropping
into a ready stance.

Conwing glanced from Eric, to the other, regrouped, rangers and back.
"Yeah. And you are gonna be the one who pays." So saying, the mutant
ripped off the DNA patch to grow to his giant size.

Eric watched the rapid growth with a mixture of alarm and horror. A
glance at the Q-Rex told him the savage zord was in no condition to fight
Conwing. A glance at the Shadow Force megazord -- who the other rangers had
presumably called upon in some vain attempt at stopping the Q-Rex while he'd been
unconscious -- told a similar story. How the heck was he supposed to fight
something that big without a zord?

Conwing further damaged the Q-Rex even as Eric was assessing the
situation before attempting to stomp on either the other rangers, or Eric himself.
Eric wasn't sure who the actual target was -- Conwing missed by several feet --
but the action did effectively separate him from the other rangers. Then
Conwing fired his blaster at the other rangers.

Eric could only look on in horror as the other rangers were caught in
the full force of the blaster fire.

That does it -- I've
gotta deal with this guy myself.

"And now for the city!" Conwing promised, heading in that
direction.

"Oh no you don't," Eric retorted. "Quantum Power!"

"Eric...no..." someone called out from behind him as he
started after Conwing. Eric couldn't spare the effort to identify the speaker.

"I work alone," he yelled over his shoulder.
"And I'm gonna handle this myself."

As he started running in the direction Conwing had taken, Eric pressed
the relevant button on his morpher and called up the TF Eagle. Pity this
doesn't have any weapons systems, he mused as he flew after Conwing.
Guess I'm just going to have to make do with what I do have. The bigger they are -- the
harder they fall.

In no time at all, Eric was flying over the suburbs, close behind
Conwing. Setting the TF Eagle's controls to autopilot, he prepared to stand up
in the seat and take aim at Conwing with the Quantum Defender.

"Insolent insect!" Conwing swatted at the TF Eagle.

Had Eric actually been in control, it wouldn't have mattered much --
the swat going wide -- but with no manual input, the downdraft of the swat was
enough to knock the craft off course. It started to spin, and Eric found
himself being flung out.

Again Eric had the sense of knowing how Wes must have felt as he hit
the sidewalk from thirty feet up. The landing took the wind out of him and left
him lying dazed, but without any chance of recovery as a horde of Cyclobots
appeared and started tossing him around. He tried to fight back and defend
himself but his limbs suddenly felt like they were made of lead and were moving
through molasses.

"Energy loss: Critical." The voice of the Quantum Morpher's
computer managed to sound faintly smug as it stated the warning.

Tell me something I don't know.

He crouched in the centre of the circle of robots during a momentary
lull, breathing hard and trying to come up with options to get out of this
situation.

You could have let
the others help -- you could have trusted them, you didn't have
to do this on your own.

Eric swallowed that regret -- it wasn't as if it was going to get him
anywhere. What he needed was a plan of action but there didn't seem to be any
inspiration forthcoming. Almost as if on cue, the heads-up display on his visor
flashed up a message.

What the...? Mega
battle? What the hell is that? There followed a series
of instructions. In lieu of a better idea, Eric followed them.

~*~

The next thing Eric knew, the other rangers had appeared on the scene
and were 'arresting' the chronofrozen form of Conwing. He had vague, hazy
memories of being the cause of Conwing's demise but beyond that, he wasn't sure
what he'd done -- or perhaps more accurately, what the Mega Battle had done.
What he did know was that every single fibre of his body now resonated with
complete and utter exhaustion to the point where just staying upright was a
struggle.

He was aware of both Wes and Jen saying things to him, but he couldn't
seem to bring enough focus to his concentration to actually hear either of
them. He turned to head towards a nearby Silver Guardians SUV, intending to get
into it, drive home and sleep for the next several years at least, but he
managed a bare two steps before his knees started to buckle.

Everything blurred again as a wave of dizziness struck. When it finally
passed, Eric found himself lying on the ground, demorphed and staring up at the
other rangers, who had also demorphed, and were clustered around him.

"One of us should see him home," Jen commented.

"I can see myself home," Eric tried to respond, but all that
came out was a groan.

"I'll do it," Wes finally offered. "I'll see you guys
back at the clock tower."

Jen nodded. "You got it."

As the other four rangers walked away, Wes crouched down. "If I
help you, do you think you can stand?"

"Yes." This time, the word sounded articulate, if not as
certain as Eric had intended.

"Good." Gently, Wes helped Eric back to his feet. "Just
lean on me and we'll make for the SUV." To further encourage that, Wes put
a supportive arm around Eric's waist.

"I can manage," Eric muttered, trying half-heartedly to shrug
out of the grasp. "You don't need to do that."

"Can it, Collins." Wes was right -- and Eric knew it, but he
was not about to give Wes that satisfaction.

"Look, I know you don't like me, but..."

"I don't like you?" Eric found himself repeating, a little
confused. Sure, he hadn't been nice to Wes -- or the others -- but where
did the idea he disliked them come from?

For a brief moment, they stopped and Wes turned to face Eric.
"You've been rude to me ever since you got back into town, you've fought
with me, you've sucker punched me, tried to kill me...not to mention dropping
me fifty feet from the TF Eagle. If all that's because you like me, I pray I never make
your shit list."

"Oh." That would be where.

"Oh would cover it," Wes agreed.

They reached the SUV. Wes propped him up against the side of the
vehicle while he opened the passenger door, before helping him into the
passenger seat.

"Now," Wes asked, as he climbed into the driver's seat,
"where am I taking you?"

Good, cos I don't
think I could manage directions right now. Everything
seemed to fade a little more. Unconsciousness was beckoning, but through the
rapidly gathering fog, something struck him.

"Is this what it felt like?" Eric asked.

"Hmm? Is what like what felt like?" Wes replied, sounding
a little puzzled.

"This." Eric weakly waved a hand at himself. "Is this
how you felt...after you took on Univolt?"

"I guess."

"Yay me."

And the last thread of consciousness faded away.

~*~

Eric gave a groan.

His whole body ached, and he felt tired beyond belief, but much to his
surprise, he found himself lying on his own bed, in his own home.

"What the...?"

That was when he realised there were hushed voices coming from the
direction of his living room. He could pretty much guess who it was liable to
be and the prospect made him grimace, particularly as he realised he was no
longer wearing any kind of shirt, which meant the scars across his back and on
his right side were plainly visible.

Eric swallowed and hoped against hope that no-one would ask him about
them.

"Who's out there?" he called. A moment later, and sure
enough, Wes walked into the bedroom. "Oh, it's you."

"You were expecting maybe the Tooth Fairy?" Wes retorted.

"I was expecting to find myself slumped on the back porch,"
Eric replied, a little more honestly than he necessarily intended.

Wes' eyes widened at the suggestion. "Why? Because that's what
you'd have done, roles reversed?"

Eric slowly sat up, wincing as his assorted bruises complained, and
shrugged a little stiffly. "Not as if I've given you any reason to do
anything else. How'd you get in anyway?"

"With a bit of help," Wes admitted.

"How're you feeling, Eric?" Jen asked, stepping out from
behind Wes.

Eric sighed. "Are the other three in my living room?"

"No. Just us."

Thank God for small
mercies, then. He slid off the bed and stood up.
"Well, I'm fine now, so you can just go back to that clock tower of yours
or wherever it is you hang out."

"Eric, why are you so determined to push us away?" Jen asked.

"Because I don't need your help, and I don't want your
friendship."

"Wrong answer," said Wes.

"What do you mean wrong answer?" Eric retorted angrily.

"I mean, just think about this for five minutes, Eric.
What would have happened if one of us hadn't offered to bring you home? What
would have happened if you'd collapsed like you did when you were actually
behind the wheel?"

Eric opened and shut his mouth a few times as the consequences of Wes'
suggestion filtered through his mind. "OK." He didn't like conceding
that point but there was no arguing with it either.

"For that matter, what would have happened if you hadn't gone it
alone against Conwing? If you'd accepted our help then?" Jen added.
"Like it or not, you're a ranger. Like it or not, so are we. If we don't
work together things like today are going to keep happening until it winds up
killing someone. Maybe you, maybe one of us -- or maybe someone innocent like
your next door neighbour."

Preventing Alice from
getting hurt is what got me into this mess, Eric
mused. Why the hell do they have to be right?

"You don't have to like us," Wes continued. "Just work
with us."

"I don't do teamwork," Eric muttered.

"Why?"

"Because teamwork can get you just as dead as working alone...if
not deader." Unconsciously, Eric's fingers brushed against the scars on
his side -- he certainly knew that one from personal experience.

Wes opened his mouth to say something more but Jen got in first.
"That's..."

"Cold, hard, painful experience," Eric finished.

For several seconds, Eric met Wes' gaze. "We're fighting on the
same side," Wes finally said. "And like it or not, you're on this
team. Can you deal with that or are we just going to have this whole
conversation again sometime?"

Eric crossed to the chair and started picking through the clothing on
the back. "Maybe. If I say yes, does that mean you two are going to leave
me alone?" He found a clean undershirt in the clothing pile and turned
back to face them, carefully pulling it on as he did so. "Look. I'll cut a
deal with ya. You stop hassling me, I won't tell Mr Collins about what I
know."

For a brief moment, the offer hung on the air, then Jen nodded.
"OK. C'mon, Wes -- let's get going. The rest of the gang are probably
wondering what's going on."

Wes nodded. "Yeah. See you around, Eric."

Eric said nothing, just continued getting dressed. Wes shrugged and
headed in the direction Jen had already taken.

"Thanks," Eric murmured, although he wasn't entirely sure
what he was saying thank you for. Part of it was for neither Jen nor Wes
actually asking about the scars -- that much he was sure about. But the rest...

Eric shook his head, pulling on a clean uniform.

What matters? he wondered.
What actually matters to me? My pride or doing what I was trained to
do? I won't tell Collins what I know. I've already said I won't. Can I work
with them? He pulled on his boots. They are right -- if I don't do it,
people will get hurt. But can I trust them?

Slowly Eric headed for the door.

Guess I'm going to have to try.

~*~

Reporting in after the mutant attack had gone about as well as Eric had
dared hope for, given his lie about the Mega Battle mode. It wasn't the flat
out lie it could have been, because he truly wasn't sure where the information
had come from. Suspecting it had some how come from the future was not the same
thing as knowing it. And he had promised to say nothing about that part.

But on returning home, something else struck him: His birds had been
out in the back yard when he'd been abducted.

It wouldn't have mattered, but he had a hazy memory of at least some of
the final battle with Conwing taking place in the general vicinity of his home.
So the instant he got back, he changed into civvies again and started to hunt
through the mess in his back yard for the birds -- or any sign of them.

He now wearily sank down on a handy wire spool and sighed. It looked as
if, in the chaos of Conwing's attack, his birds had been vaporised.

"Knock, knock?" called a voice.

Eric started. Looking round, he saw Alice and a brunette woman about
his own age -- presumably Alice's mom. In Alice's arms was his birdcage,
completely intact.

"Um, hi," began the brunette a little nervously. "Alice
tells me these are yours?"

Eric smiled. "They are," he agreed.

"I saved them," stated Alice proudly. "They were going
to get squished by the monster!"

"Did you?" Eric replied, accepting the cage as Alice held it
out to him. "Then you're very brave. Thank you." He placed the cage
back on its stand.

"You're welcome," Alice replied.

"C'mon Alice, time to stop bothering Mr...um..." began her
mom.

"Eric," Alice supplied. "His name's Eric. He said
so."

"Ohmygosh -- Alice Megan Cunningham, what have I told you about
talking to strangers?" Alice's mom looked up at Eric in complete embarrassment.
"I'm terribly sorry -- she won't...she shouldn't...she..."